I’m calling you out!!!! (How many exclamation marks does it take for you to hear “I love you, man”?) On a roll ... call, I’m listing each and every Sister that joins our Sisterhood movement and the amazing accomplishments of those who earn Merit Badges. “Hear YE!”

Sonja Gasper (#5671) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Crochet Merit Badge!

“My grandmother taught me how to chain and do the single and double crochet stitches when I was just old enough to manage a hook. We have a great yarn shop here in town called The Black Purl, and the owner helped me get started again with some beautiful yarn by Ella Rae. I used a 5.5 mm hook and retaught myself the single stitch, working especially on consistent tension, making an infinity scarf. It is 60″ around and 6″ wide and took me about 8 hours total to do. It curled, so I also had to learn how to block a project as well.

I wore it for an hour and then popped it in the mail to a friend who is in Texas (and is not used to the cold) as a surprise! I have already started a new one for myself, checking the Internet for more things to learn, and have added on double, basket, and grit stitches as more of a sampler scarf, but in the same color. It is going much faster this time!”

Bonnie Ellis, Farmgirl Sister #298, sent us a link to this video from their insurance company, UCare Minnesota, in which she and her husband, their beautiful garden, and Bonnie’s quilts are featured. Love you Bonnie! (We think your hubby is adorable.)

From my isolated little farm at the end of a dirt road here in Idaho, it’s sometimes hard to remember that my arms can reach all the way across the U.S.! Today, we received an e-mail from Sandi, a former employee who moved to Virginia. Sandi said, “Most prominent rack by the check out at my local co-op here in Roanoke, Virginia!”

“In the early 20th century, a man named Sanford Bennett wrote rapturously about his face workouts in a book called Exercising in Bed,” explainsElizabeth Weingarten in Slate magazine. “Troubled by how quickly his face and body had aged, Bennett began exercising at age 50; after two decades, he was a regular Benjamin Button, known by some as ‘the man who grew young at 70.'”

Taking Sanford’s cue, an entrepreneurial gal by the name of Kathryn Murray published her System of Exercises for Facial Beauty in 1912, which was advertised far and wide as a veritable fountain of youth:

Now, before you dismiss these early facial fitness gurus as mere snake oil vendors, consider this:

“[T]he action of a muscle drawing in blood to itself [is] very important to the effect of my exercises for keeping youth and beauty in the face,” wrote English novelist Elinor Glyn in 1927. “The reason for this is fairly obvious, I think. The blood is the life, in it are contained all the gland secretions and nourishment of the body which are necessary for its upkeep and wellbeing. Therefore, if you draw blood to the flesh of any given part you nourish and renew it.”

It’s hard to argue. Much to the dismay of the multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry, Glyn’s wisdom makes darn good sense to this day.

Does facial exercising erase all signs of aging?

Don’t I wish.

Even so, contorting one’s cheeks is completely toxin-free, infinitely cheaper than cream and lotions, and …

it feels good. A real stress reliever.

Yup, I’ve done it for years after featuring the idea in my magazine eons ago, but you’ll find no photographs of me “drawing blood to my face.” Confession: I do it when I drive. Alone. On empty country roads.

So, give it a whirl, farmgirl—here’s a whole series to inspire you, from a 1966 record album called Facial Exercises and Massage Routines for Skin Beauty:

Photos courtesy of Discogs.com

Photos courtesy of Discogs.com

Just be sure to keep in mind the words of Lillian Russell, published in the Washington Herald in 1911:

“The use of facial massage and good cold cream or skin food will be found generally beneficial, but the most important factor in all beauty, as in health, is the mental attitude. If you would be beautiful, avoid all thoughts of evil, all unkindliness, all malice, all worry and dislike; learn a broad tolerance of sin and weakness and a general love for all mankind. Realize that no one can injure you but yourself. Take this mental attitude and try to maintain it at all times. You may not wholly succeed, but you will not wholly fail, and then, as day after day you make the same effort to live upon a higher plane, your face will relax and its contour soften.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring ourSisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,602 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,898 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

After my cheese was ready, I got Mr. Wonderful to heat up the ol’ smoker. This was what I gave him for a birthday present and he’s a bit … cantankerous and possessive about it.

To put it mildly.

I’m not allowed anywhere near it without his hovering and supervision.

Sheesh. Attempt to smoke salmon without reading the instruction manual one time, and you’re branded for life.

While he got things heated up and practiced giving me the stink eye, I went back to the kitchen to check on my mozzarella balls. While there, I mixed up a batch of Gouda to smoke (I didn’t want the mozzarella to get lonely). It seems weird, doesn’t it, that making your own cheese is less time consuming (not to mention less expensive) than getting in your car, driving to the supermarket, finding a place to park, locating the cheese aisle, getting in line, paying, remembering where you left the car, and driving all the way home again?

Well, when I put it that way, maybe it’s not so surprising.

Anyway, making my own cheese is practically second nature by now, so I thought I’d share my handy-dandy recipe for The Most Delicious Homemade Gouda That Will Ever Pass Through Your Happy Lips. From now on, we’ll just call it M.D.H.G.T.W.E.P.T.Y.H.L. (I’m all about efficiency. You know.)

In order to start making your own homemade Gouda cheese, you have to begin by making mesophilic starter culture. Now, the one and only ingredient for mesophilic starter culture is buttermilk. Yep, it isn’t just for ranch dressing any more or Sunday biscuits.

Pour 2 cups of cultured (this is important−read the label!) buttermilk and let it sit for 6–8 hours at room temperature, until it has reached a yogurt-like form. Once it reaches this consistency, you put it into an ice-cube tray and freeze it. That’s it!

There are only two more ingredients needed to make Gouda cheese: rennet tablets and milk.

Warm 1 gallon of milk to 85°F, then add 4 ounces of mesophilic starter culture (about 4 ice cubes). Next, dissolve 1/4 of a rennet tablet into cold water. Hot water will destroy the rennet enzymes. After that, pour the rennet into the milk and stir for about 5 minutes. Let it sit for 1–2 hours. Use this time to convince Mr. Wonderful to lift the restraining order between you and the smoker.

When the milk reaches a firm curd, cut the curd into 1/2-inch squares. Set it in the oven at 102°F. Once the curd reaches 102°F, carefully remove 3 cups of whey from the top surface. Replace with 3 cups of water. Reheat to 102°F and repeat the process 3 times.

Drain the cheese onto paper towels or cheesecloth, then press the cheese with 45 pounds of weight for 3-1/2 hours. You can use bricks wrapped in aluminum foil. Or overdue library books. Just kidding! Pat dry the cheese, then stick it in the refrigerator and let it age for up to 25 days. Use this time to snack on your smoked mozzarella.

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring ourSisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,602 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,898 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Mmm, ooey gooey, smooth as silk, slices of heaven. I never met a cheese I didn’t like. Well, I’m not super-fond of American, but I’m not entirely sure that is a cheese. Thoughts?

I had already made a few different types of delicious cheeses earning my Beginning and Intermediate level badges, so I was feeling pretty confident about my skills. While looking up the guidelines, I was intrigued by the suggestion:

If you’re adventurous, try smoking your cheese.

I can’t tell you how confused I was for a moment, thinking of some sort of whey-based tobacco or something, but then I realized what they meant. Like a smoked gouda? Smoked cheddar?

Why, yes.

I was halfway there already, since I have a little camping secret I’d like to share with you girls. Are you ready for this?

When you’ve had all the s’mores you can swallow at the campfire, try one of these babies:

A wedge of Brie, roasted on your skewer, then topped with dark chocolate. Or skip the chocolate (Now, there are four words I thought would never come out of this gal’s mouth!) and smooth it on a hunk of French bread.

Bliss on a stick.

But anyway, I assume the merit badge gurus aren’t talking about smoking your cheese quite like that, so back to the drawing board (and cookbooks) for me. I decided to try a smoked mozzarella, because let’s face it, no matter the question, mozzarella is always a good answer. Really! Try it.

A gallon of milk, 1 1/2 t citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup water, 1/4 of a rennet tablet, crushed and dissolved in 1/4 cup water. I poured the milk in my pot, added the dissolved citric acid, stirred, and heated it to 90°F. Then I gently stirred in the dissolved rennet and brought the temp up a little more (to 100°F). Then I shut the heat off and let the pot sit for another 5 minutes or so while the curds and whey continued to separate. Then I fondly recited “Little Miss Muffet” a few times, which isn’t required for cheese making, but is recommended. Then I drain off some of the whey and begin my kneading. It turns from a weird-looking, shaggy mess to a lovely ball of smooth cheese. It’s like magic! Magic, I tell you!

After my cheese was ready, I got Mr. Wonderful to heat up the ol’ smoker …

All proceeds (minus shipping and packing) will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Here’s how:

MaryJane will post a photo of the prop and its cost here along with a few details as to its condition. The first person to call the farm and talk with Brian, 208-882-6819, becomes the new owner of a little bit of herstory. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS, our choice. No returns.